Last weekend, twenty professionals from Africa and Asia were expected to arrive in Iceland to attend the GRÓ-LRT six-month training programme. We had planned to launch the 2020 six-month training on 16 March, but in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the training had to be postponed at least for the coming weeks. Here in Iceland, as in so many countries around the globe, authorities have taken measures to address the threat stemming from COVID-19. In Iceland, all universities and colleges have been closed and a ban on public events and gatherings has been imposed from 16 March until at least 13 April. Whether we will be able to run this year’s training programme later this spring remains uncertain. This will depend on how things evolve in Iceland and around the world regarding the outbreak.

The short open online course Sheep in the Land of Fire and Ice, co-developed by Land Restoration Training Programme, has been listed as one of the top 30 Class Central Best Online Courses of 2019, out of more than 2,400 courses released last year! Class Central is a search engine and review site for open online courses where you can find information about courses from different providers, and read the reviews from learners that have taken the course. Class Central releases every year a list of the best courses based on learners‘ reviews.

Recently, the LRT Director gave a TEDx talk on the work and philosophy of the Land Restoration Training Programme. The talk is entitled "Training leaders to restore a planet in crisis". We encourage you to watch the video and hear about LRT and some of our former fellows. The video can be watched here.

After many years of fruitful collaboration, the United Nations University and the Land Restoration Training Programme are parting ways, along with the other three Training Programmes in Iceland on fisheries, gender equality and geothermal energy. As of 1 January 2020, the four Programmes are a part of the new UNESCO category 2 centre GRÓ - Centre for Capacity Development, Sustainability and Societal Change.